1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to liquid absorbing devices for placement in a dental patient's mouth for absorbing liquid including saliva and blood during the performance of a dental procedure.
2. Prior Art
It has long been common for a dentist in the performance of a dental procedure to install a cotton type sponge in a patient's mouth to absorb liquid from the field or area whereon the dentist works. Such sponges are generally compressed rolls of an absorbent cotton and are positioned alongside, over or adjacent to the patient's salivary ducts, against a patient's gingiva, or may be arranged next to the operating field.
Such cotton roll type sponge is intended to prohibit liquid from flowing or seeping onto the operating field, which field is generally a surface of a dental patient's tooth or their gingiva. A roll type sponge made from a stack of pads that are stitched together at their center longitudinal axis is shown in a patent to Julius, U.S. Pat. No. 4,071,955, and a similar roll sponge is shown in a patent to Wall, U.S. Pat. No. 4,372,314. Both of which sponges are essentially rolls. In practice, it has been found that round rolls often float out of position, and interfere with a dental procedure being performed. Accordingly, it is difficult to position and maintain in a dental procedure within the close confines of a patient's mouth.
Other sponges that are configured for placement at certain locations in a patient's mouth for collection of liquids are shown in patents to Saffro, U.S. Pat. No. 3,705,585 and Biggs, U.S. Pat. No. 2,613,441. Which devices are formed to fit in or on certain locations, are bulky and difficult to install, and are accordingly unlike the dam of the present invention. Like the present invention, certain early sponge arrangements have the value of a contoured and thin moisture absorbent device for use in a dental patient's mouth. Patents to Peyser et al, U.S. Pat. No. 3,468,030; Mattsson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,293,301; and an early Great Britain Patent to Nelicker, No. 816, recognize this need and each provides an arrangement that is essentially flat and is intended to fit within a mouth cavity. The shape of these devices, however, is unlike the present invention, and they do not provide for an effective absorbtion of moisture, and nor do they span a work area or field within a patient's mouth. Also, the Peyser et al device would not fit under a patient's tongue or in the areas adjacent thereto, nor would it fit in the front of a patient's mouth in the frenum area thereof. Additionally, the present invention lends itself to being folded longitudinally upon itself to fit within a narrow work area so as to be out of the way of the performance of a dental procedure.
Additional to dental sponges set out above, a number of arrangements of feminine hygiene appliances for absorbing liquids are available. Such patents have been issued for different types and shapes of sanitary napkins. Some examples of such arrangements are patents to: Johnson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,212,301; Johnson, Jr. et al, U.S. Pat. No. 2,964,039; Jurgensen, U.S. Pat. No. 2,064,431; Ahr, U.S. Pat. No. 4,321,924; Beyer Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 2,047,054 and Malfitano, U.S. Pat. No. 4,433,972; Hirschman, U.S. Pat. No. 3,983,873; and Denkinger, U.S. Pat. No. 3,905,372. None of which feminine hygiene patents teach arrangements that are structurally or functionally like the present invention.